Introduction
In 1994, Jeff Bezos launched Amazon.com, initially as an online book retailer. In 2011, the company reported $48 billion in revenues. These are the 17 years of success of the company, and the role of the Jeff Bezos is worthy in this whole journey. Starting from a book retailer, it was a big challenge for the management of the company to expand the product line with the limited financial resources. Obviously, there are some growth strategies, used by Jeff Bezos to make the company a top online retailer in the world. In this study, the emphasis on the different growth strategies that have helped the company reach the $48 billion in revenues, the largest by any retail chain in the world.
Growth Strategies used by Jeff Bezos
The best thing that Jeff Bezos did was the differentiation in the different products. In the competitive retail market, then he intended to come up with the products that had something special in it. Interesting, he wanted rational of selling the product to the customers. Conversely, he also wanted the customers to make the buying decision with a pertinent rationale. In short, making the products special and through creating the values for the customers, the products of the company went viral. It is a fact that the differentiation and specialty in the different products of the company varied with the passage of the time, according to the needs and demands of the customers. However, Jeff Bezos sustained the difference in the retail market and led the customers to make the positive buying decisions in the presence of the immense range of the customers (Juncu, 2017).
Focus on Customer
Jeff Bezos led the company through the preferences. For Instance, this has been revealed that the company identified its target customers very early. It can be said that Jeff Bezos knew what customers wanted in the market. The production and sales of the products and services were enhanced accordingly in the competitive market. Based on this, the company developed the different segments to target the customers. The customer wanted the products according to the expectations, and accordingly, the expectations were met. In the result, people became quite responsive in the market (Mullaney, 2017).
Growth Indicators
The most important thing for Jeff Bezos was the identification of the different growth indicators. Jeff Bezos, being an owner of the company, invested money and time to those indicators. For Instance, several growth indicators were expansions, segmentation, online channels, and market research. His ideology was to invest in inventing and revolutionizing e-commerce, and through the pertinent sustainability, he gained the success. Today, apart from with the ownership of the world’s largest retail chain, he is the fifth wealthiest man in the world.
Profit Targets
Jeff Bezos intended to make the different target regarding the profitability and make plans accordingly. The company plans to increase the profit margins in each quarter and make the decisions according to the customer demands, sales, supply, online optimizations and customer needs. Also, Jeff Bezos believed in the change through navigating the internal control. The change in the internal strategies to meet the trends in the modern retail chain was the key success factor, which assisted the company in gaining and sustaining the success. Jeff Bezos focused on improvisation and innovation, which have helped to gain the advantage and come up with the thing, which was undone in these 17 years. The internal planning of the company was always triggered by the organizational objectives and target in the retail market (Robischon, 2017).
Obsessing the Customers
Obsessing the customers was in the limelight by the Jeff Bezos, as he preferred the needs of the customers in these years. From 1994 to 2017, the change in the product line segments and the target was remarkable. Jeff Bezos integrated with the customer needs and wanted to make the difference in his products and services. So he did not focus on the competitors in the market. It was the prominent growth trait of the company, which led towards the immense revenues in these years. For example, the owner introduced the Amazon web services to solve the problems of the customers and have feedback to make the decisions accordingly. To get ahead, the Jeff Bezos wanted to make a separated reputation in the retail market to get the response of the customers and increase the sales (Yglesias, 2014).
Reinvention
Interestingly, Jeff Bezos made some bold decisions to get the company at the top level. In the recent years, he focused on inventions, reinvention and again reinvention to get the creative and innovative products. According to his saying, if anyone knows that his experiment is going to work in the future, it is not an experiment. Thus, in short, this has been observed that the Amazon Company took the inventions as the top priorities and created and stress-free environment for the employees to conduct the creative and innovative work. Despite having the different failures, due to support and courage by the management, the company contained the exceptional growth.
Work Delegation
The work delegation has helped the company to grow faster as compared to the other companies. Jeff Bezos developed a culture in which every employee owned the work and the company. He believed in the employee retention in the company and wanted to keep the best people in the company to have brilliance in ideas and knowledge sharing. Jeff Bezos always gave the workers or employees a stake in the success of the company, which enhanced the visibility of motivation, and ultimately, it had a great impact on the growth of the company (Juncu, 2017).
Repetition of Good Things
The best thing the company had in the 17 years is the versatility and adaptability. Jeff Bezos did not set the permanent goals for the company, as he used some good thing and repeated them in the best interest of the company. He emphasized on change and ensured the buying of the customers along with a greater sustainability in the competitive retail market. It is a fact that the Amazon Company, under the leadership of Jeff Bezos, facilitated the individuals and small group to get involved in the decision-making process (Robischon, 2017).
Furthermore, the market development emerged as a top growth strategy of the company. Jeff Bezos tried to add more countries in the expanded list to serve the customers with the sustained quality and intense range of the product segments. Similarly, penetrating the current market is also a good growth strategy by Jeff Bezos to retain the customers and keep them loyal. Recently, Amazon acquisition with Woolworth and many other companies has been observed. The mergers or acquisition is some pertinent growth strategies, which helped the company, share the sales, profit, cultural, and customers and reach the $48 billion in revenues (Yglesias, 2014).
Conclusion/Summary
In the end, this is to conclude that the Amazon Company is successful due to the intentions of Jeff Bezos. From 1994 to 2011, remarkable growth strategies have been implemented. Amazon is so certain of it and just focuses on the customers instead of the competition in the retail market. In this study, the focus was on the Amazon Company and its growth strategies, which resulted in the $48 billion in revenues. These are the success years of this online retailer, and Jeff Bezos, being an owner is looking to keep these strengths in the Surge.
References
Juncu, M. (2017, March 16). Amazon’s Most Important Intensive Growth Strategies. Retrieved from http://www.performancemagazine.org/amazon-growth-strategies/
Mullaney, T. ( 2017, January 12). 5 key business lessons from Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2016/05/13/5-key-business-lessons-from-amazons-jeff-bezos.html
Robischon, N. (2017, February 13). Why Amazon Is The World’s Most Innovative Company Of 2017. Retrieved from https://www.fastcompany.com/3067455/why-amazon-is-the-worlds-most-innovative-company-of-2017
Yglesias, M. (2014, January 30). The Prophet of No Profit. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2014/01/amazon_earnings_how_jeff_bezos_gets_investors_to_believe_in_him.html